C H A N G E

It's getting to that time of year where people are approaching the end of their time at university. The relief which usually accompanies leaving your final exam or handing in your last assignment for the academic year this time around feels bittersweet. Many of my friends are encountering this right now, and despite being a year ahead of them I still can't exactly prepare them for what is to come. Nobody expects this adjustment to be easy I'm sure, but coming out of that little contained hub of student life can hit you, hard, but it's not necessarily a bad thing.

For those of you reading who have already graduated will probably agree, the year after university is probably the most unsettling you have experienced. The security of education has been whipped from under you and with your degree in hand you are booted back home to your parents or out into the hunt for employment where everyone's for themselves. Soon you realise that your degree is moot without an additional two years of field specific work experience and you're at the bottom of the food chain once again. It's difficult to hold on to the glow of graduating for long when most employers are swindling free labour out of graduates desperate for a CV that 'stands out', and your usual support system of friends or flatmates at uni are now scattered across various counties and continents.

These last eleven months have been a complete whirlwind of experiences and emotions in which I feel I have grown more into myself as a person than I did throughout my three years at university. Yes, times can be trying and often I think back to the simplicity of uni, where my biggest dilemma was whether I should stay in and finish the reading list for tomorrows seminar, or go out and hope that I would still be just that little bit drunk enough to bullsh*t my way through it. However, working life poses bigger issues and on top of establishing a balance between the many additional aspects of real life that uni didn't demand of you, you also have an expanding range of relationships to nurture. Professional relationships, family relationships, new relationships, and old friendships that you are trying to shift into a new way of living take so much more work when your time is not completely your own.

The best way to describe it is like an eat, pray, love year...but less romantic...and with more eating, and like maybe swapping out the praying for playing.

(PS. I first came across Eat, Pray, Love when I was sixteen and it didn't resonate at all. Going back to it again more recently was a huge eye opener for those who haven't read/watched it. Just get the tissues at the ready if you're already feeling emotional about the end of an era).

Whether you are leaving uni and going straight into a job, or going home to save up some money to travel, this next year will be if nothing else a test in strength and most definitely patience. In this new chapter of your life you will begin to realise what's not worth focussing your time and energy on and find a way to prioritise what is. You will discover character traits in yourself that education had never stirred within you. It is only with hindsight now that I can see how much I have changed since last May; though they may be subtle changes, they are definitely there and for the better.

So prep yourself for some self discovery my friends, cause it's coming for you whether you like it or not.

More to follow!

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